DeadtoMe
by grey-angel's-escape
Summary: Sasuke and Sakura's first encounter after two years. warning: bloody and not very happy at all.


Dead_to_Me

Two butterflies, wings opening and closing so carelessly, one had to

wonder how they were managing to stay airborne. It was a sight so

foreign, to the man who had spent the past five years in Sound: there was nothing that could allow the mind to stray from the tangible evil surrounding

the hidden village like a thick cloud of smoke, or a sour taste that lingers hours in one's mouth. And there sure as hell weren't any butterflies.

Maybe it was because of this, that the man's mind had allowed itself to stray to such simple things. With only the deep blue sky as witness, he found himself taking an unnecessary break in the tall, forest grass. Never in five years had the man been allowed to go on a mission unaccompanied, let alone a retrieval mission. If it was a slaughter kind of mission, then Sasuke would have no excuse for not coming back earlier than estimated. Retrievals were different. The target was no longer a disposable body; it was a priceless scroll.

Caution had to be taken to ensure its safe return to Sound. A smirk found

its way onto the man's face. Of course, if anyone got in his way, it would be just as easy for Sasuke to kill him. So at least the mission wouldn't be entirely unenjoyable.

Sakura groaned in distaste. Another retrieval mission. That meant she

would have to be away for twice as long. Why couldn't she get another

assassination mission? That way she'd be back in two days tops (depending on the target's location) and back into her and Sai's warm bed. Even now, as a shiver traveled the length of her body, Sakura was already missing the six layers of sheets adorning the Queen sized bed- the only piece of furniture that would fit into their undersized, one-bedroom apartment. Letting out a sigh of frustration from the news of a new mission, Sakura headed towards the city gates. For once, both sides of her personality agreed: Retrieval missions sucked peaches.

Retrieval missions meant stealth. If nothing else, he liked stealth.

And blood...hopefully if he was stealthy enough, there'd be some of that as well. The mission did not state how many enemy nin would be involved, but it didn't matter. The more the merrier. Uchiha Sasuke liked blood, and humans had plenty of it.

The mission was to bring a secret Summoning Jetsu scroll to the

trading point, where someone from Kanohagakure would come bringing another

Scroll, that Orochimaru had yet to tell him the nature of. In reality, there was no way he'd actually leave any of them alive long enough to even see the summoning scroll. Since he was fifteen, the Uchiha had always followed his strict, 3-step-plan: go in, kill everyone, and leave happy.

Wisps of pink wove in and out of the trees, and with them a

determined konoichi, eyes darting in all possible directions as she neared the

meeting place. "But rushing only works if you come back alive," she

reminded herself. Without hindering her pace, Sakura pulled the loose strands of hair up into a less-noticeable bun with black fabric around it, successfully covering her strawberry locks. Anbu mask on, she jumped into the tree branches for better cover through the final stretch of land.

The moment he saw movement coming from just beyond the patch of trees to his left, Sasuke lifted himself off the ground, and rested his right

hand on the hilt of the katana that had never failed him yet. when a

single ninja dropped down from the tree he had been under only moments

ago, Sasuke didn't flinch; he barely changed his breathing. Without

waiting for him (or was it a her?) to get into fighting stance, Sasuke

lunged. The nin blocked with surprising speed and force, sending two, easily deflected shuriken in his direction. Four more shuriken where exchanged by each party, until one finally hit. Sasuke barely felt the shrunkin make such a clean cut across his face; it was only when the cool air hit the wound, that he could tell she (and it was definitely a "she") had been the one to land the first blow. Red, spiraling eyes narrowed at his opponent. The time for games was over: this person obviously had an unfulfilled death wish, and he, being the merciful man that he was, would only torture her long enough for the kunoichi to scream for her own demise. The next shuriken he threw hit.

Pink hair fell around her chin and flooded into her eyes. Sparing a second to brush it away, Sakura refocused on her goal: kill that son-of-a-bitch Uchiha Brat. It had been a long time since they'd seen each other: not since the retrieval mission two years ago. After that, Kanoha lost hope, and so did she. The farther from sight the Uchiha was, the more she began to forget how it felt to love him.

The locks of pink dropped slower than time should have allowed.

Sasuke watched as each individual strand floated down from the dismembered

bun, and painted the edges of her mask in a bath of pink. It was a

signature pink. _No one_ had that hair color, except...

"Surprised Uchiha?" _Like that's a question, of course the guy's surprised; he hasn't seen us in years._

"Hn. I guess I'm surprised that you're still not calling me _Sasuke- Kun_."

_This is Sakura; I shouldn't even have to use sharingan on her. Time certainly has changed her-in several ways..._

Sasuke's eyes traveled up, past the hem of her skirt and curve of her hips, only pausing momentarily when they reached the area of her body that had _definitely_ changed the most.

Daring his eyes to look away, he refocused on his target's face. "Alone today, Sakura-_chan_?" The avenger deactivated his shangarin, successfully administering a harsh slap in the face to Sakura, and walked out from the cover of the trees. Now the two stood mere feet from each other: closer than they had been in years, yet father apart than ever before. No more words were exchanged, because there were no more words left to give. He was the avenger, and she had nothing to do with that destiny. They were strangers who once knew each other's past, who shared memories too far gone and forgotten. Now, all that was left was a name, and the feelings that in time, became associated with the words. Haruno Sakura, the annoying girl who'd never change.

Uchiha Sasuke, the bastard who abandoned his team and betrayed their village.

Fighting stance, knees bent, eyes ahead. I do not know you any more. That Uchiha died years ago.

Now there was no reason to hold back, and the real battle began again. Their powers were far from equal; both had realized this the moment the first shuriken was thrown. Pinned to a tree, Sakura barely managed to duck what would have been the Uchiha's final blow. But she wasn't about to give up that easily. Withdrawing his katana, Sasuke noticed the paper bomb the kunoichi had managed to attach, while he was swinging the weapon. Hurling the sword right back at her, and retreating a few steps, the Uchiha prepared to be sprayed with her blood and body parts. Unfortunately, all Sakura did was turn into a puff of smoke. The real Sakura had crept up behind him, but he was already prepared for her counterattack. Limbs collided from every direction and angle, as the fight continued into the thick wood. Finally, Sakura managed to land another, not so clean-cut blow, this time to Sasuke's upper arm. The kunai had been laced with poison, but Sasuke had been prepared for this as well. Orochimaru had taught him a poison-tolerance-jetsu that he had learned from Sasori of the Red Sand during his time with the Akatsuki. He could see she was becoming weaker, with every move he deflected. She was loosing, and they both knew it.

_I wonder, how long will I get to torture her, before she begs for her life?_

The faint sounds to his left could only mean one thing: reinforcements. Reinforcements meant a time constriction. And if there was one thing Uchiha Sasuke hated, it was being rushed. The art of torture took time, and thought, and creativity. And Sasuke wanted to make sure he was _very_ creative with such a close old friend's death arrangements. "Haruno Sakura, are you ready to die?" Her body lay limp below him; ultimate submission.

"Hell no", she managed to grit out of her bloodstained teeth.

"Hn. Too bad". And with that, the man without a heart carved a single wound into her lungs, turned to leave, and never look back. Go in, kill everyone, leave happy. That's just how this Uchiha worked.


End file.
